Method and system for improved bill of material creation and maintenance

A computer program product for creating and maintaining a bill of materials for design and manufacture of a product, the computer program product comprising computer instructions for:

• linking, over a network, a plurality of client information processing systems to at least one central processing system;
• receiving an assembled bill of materials from an originating party's client information processing system, the bill of materials having been assembled to a predefined point of completion adequate for processing by a reviewing party;
• communicating feedback to the reviewing party's client information processing system, automatically, in response to receiving the bill of materials, indicating the bill of materials is ready for processing;
• and
• performing the following at least once, iteratively:
• processing the bill of materials by the reviewing party;
• communicating feedback to the originating party's client information system, automatically, in response to completing the processing step, indicating the bill of materials has been processed;
• editing the bill of materials, by the originating party;
• and
• communicating feedback to the reviewing party's client information system, automatically, in response to completing the editing step, indicating the bill of materials is ready for processing.

A central information processing system for creating and maintaining a bill of materials for design and manufacture of a product, the computer system comprising:

• means for linking, over a network, a plurality of client information processing systems to at least one central processing system;
• means for receiving an assembled bill of materials from an originating party's client information processing system, the bill of materials having been assembled to a predefined point of completion adequate for processing by a reviewing party;
• means for communicating feedback to the reviewing party's client information processing system, automatically, in response to receiving the bill of materials, indicating the bill of materials is ready for processing;
• and
• means for performing the following at least once, iteratively:
• processing the bill of materials by the reviewing party;
• communicating feedback to the originating party's client information system, automatically, in response to completing the processing step, indicating the bill of materials has been processed;
• editing the bill of materials, by the originating party;
• and
• communicating feedback to the reviewing party's client information system, automatically, in response to completing the editing step, indicating the bill of materials is ready for processing.